Eating Disorders and Athletes Social Sciences Term Paper (Term Paper Sample)

Topic: Eating Disorders and Athletes
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Introduction
Eating disorders, such as d bulimia nervosa, binge eating, and anorexia nervosa, are fatal psychiatric conditions with high mortality rate (Beals, 2004). Yet, as is the case with many mental health cases, most people fail to seek medical intervention. In the United States, there are about 11 million people reported as suffering from the disease (Quatromoni, 2017). The lifetime prevalence of anorexia nervosa is 0.6% for bulimia nervosa. It is 1%, and for binge eating is 3% (El Ghoch et al., 2013). Most of the people affected by eating disorders are females. The prevalence of eating disorders is also more prevalent among the athletes compared to the general population. According to Joy et al. (2016), one study found 18% of athletes to be having eating disorders compared with 5% of the general population.
The fact that athletes have high vulnerability, yet they also engage in intense physical activities, is worrying. As stated by Kristjánsdóttir et al. (2019, p.2), the athletes “embody the concept of physical perfection, and the requirements to meet the standards of weight, eating behaviour, and performance are strict.” There are several factors that make athletes more prone to eating disorders. These factors include weight limit, specific judging criteria, and use of revealing or tight uniforms. The athletes’ body is central to their career, which makes them be conscious about their weight. Restricted diets can easily turn out to be dangerous habits. Evidenced based intervention is thus needed among this population. The objective of this paper is to discuss eating disorders among the athletes. The areas of focus include comparison of eating disorder among male and female athletes, factors contributing to high rate of eating disorder among athletes, tests and diagnosis, Prevention and Control, and recommendation for future studies.
Comparison of Female and Male Athletes
Female athletes have high prevalence of eating disorders when compared to their male counterparts. In a study that only involved females, 20% athletes had eating disorders, whereas only 9% of the non-athlete students were diagnosed (Joy et al., 2016). Most studies on eating disorders on athletes have, therefore, included only female samples. In one study that investigated female distance runners in Britain, and included a sample of 184, findings established that 16% had severe eating disorder (El Ghoch et al., 2013). Consistent high prevalence of eating disorders among female athletes of different nationalities and sports have been reported. Male athletes are also not entirely safe since compared to the general population, they have a slightly higher prevalence for eating disorders. Besides, as society change and men receive more pressure to have a specific body image, it is expected that there will be more incidences of men with eating disorder (Ismailova & Gazdowska, 2016).